Question -

[Kate ......]

Can anyone tell me how to id a dead elm tree. I have heard for years, you look for dead elm trees to find morels ( mushrooms ) in an area. Any help will be appreciated. kate

[Loki]

il Mon, 24 May 2004 11:47:20 -0500, "Kate ......" ha scritto:

Should be a lot of dead elm trees around after Dutch Elm Tree Disease has decimated so many around the world.

[Jim Elbrecht]

Here's a few -

From the looks, they haven't been dead long.

Good luck. Morels are like the holy grail. I found some on my property about 10 years ago. I had lived here 8 years then and thought I'd been blind for the first eight years. But they haven't re-appeared since.

The patch I found was indeed at the foot of an old elm-- but it was little more than a rotted stump by the time it hosted the Morels.

And if you haven't eaten any yet & wonder if they are worth the effort. . . . . Oh yeah-- they're definitely worth whatever you need to do.

Jim

[belly]

On Mon, 24 May 2004 11:47:20 -0500 in , "Kate ......" graced the world with this thought:

Find the morels, then look at the tree they're near....

Find elm trees... then look for the ones that didn't make it...

[Kate ......]

Thats one big problem. I have never been able to find one. I hear all the great hunts of braggers. No one will say where they find them. Only little hints. Mainly about an elm tree. To tell you the truth, I am not a very good person to ask the name of any tree. I try hard to learn . Must be looking in the wrong places. kate

belly wrote:

[belly]

On Mon, 24 May 2004 19:21:59 -0500 in , "Kate ......" graced the world with this thought:

Mushroomers tend to be pretty close-mouthed about where they find things... they also tend to be like fishermen when they talk about their bounty. "I got But, you should have been here YESTERDAY!!" Are there any mycological societies (read: mushroom hunting clubs) in your area? They're usually a fine source of info, and are happy to take newbies on field trips. They also tend to have an online presence. As an aside, a friend of mine put in a gazebo. He surrounded it with store-bought tan bark (oak, I believe). It rained, a couple days later he had morels. Go figure.

[belly]

On Mon, 24 May 2004 19:21:59 -0500 in , "Kate ......" graced the world with this thought:

One other thing... think "forest fire." Always a fine source for dead trees, oak, elm, and otherwise. Not too recent, of course, maybe a place that was hit in the last five or six years. I don't recommend starting your own.

[C. James Strutz]

years,

Elm trees have a silvery bark and toothed, flame-shaped, alternate leaves. The canopy is usually vase shaped (gracefully widens at the top). Sometimes the roots look like fins where they go into the ground. Elm trees can be dead or dying for morels to fruit. Look for trees where the bark is falling off in sheaths.

The morel season is pretty much over in the continental United States, except in the very northern regions.

[Kate ......]

no clubs or anything like that in our area. Nor Mi. where my sister lives and the pickens are wonderful ( for everyone but me ) My sister, is not the least interested in the hunt. So no help there. Thanks again, kate

belly wrote:

[Kate ......]

Gotcha . I'll remember that.

belly wrote:

[Kate ......]

Yeah, no point in hunting much more this year. But I will remember your hints. I knew there had to be certain things to look for to identify those dead elm trees . Thank your help. Kate

"C. James Strutz" wrote:

[steve]

Must be be my lucky day then, I found some fresh morels growing in my yard, I'm not much of an mushroom person but from what I hear it's a very coveted mushroom. They were growing underneath spruce pine trees, no elms in sight. I checked it out carefully to see if its the real thing and not a poisonous false morel, and yes it seems to be the real mcoy, So anyone here know how I should cook them, or can I eat them raw? thanks.

[Kate ......]

Oh my goodness, are you the lucky one. Can't help you with the cooking. I have never got that close to finding one to worry about how I'd eat it. . My mother did something like this ...... dredged them in egg , then cracker crumbs and fried them in butter. Talk about yummy. Kate

steve wrote:

[Steve]

Steve, you must be lucky. I'm not that much of a mushroom person either, yet I feel a twinge of envy. I can't remember the last time I actually ate a wild mushroom. Your post got me looking on the web to find out more about morels. I found this page and realize it should have been shown early on. (Maybe it was, I wasn't paying that much attention:

answers the original question that started this thread I believe. Also explains why you have morels with no elm trees. Humm, I have plenty of aspens and white pines around here...

From the first page, there is this one:

That one is pretty informative too. I scroll down to the last map and well, what do you know.... a dot in the southern Adirondacks. Maybe I should get out there and look. Of course, the black flies might eat me alive if I went into the woods. Black fly season probably ends at the same time as morel season. There's probably a million morels out there for that very reason (or not).

Steve (the other one) in the Adirondacks

[belly]

On Tue, 25 May 2004 15:05:55 -0500 in , "Kate ......" graced the world with this thought:

I couldn't find a club in N MI, but found this, which is interesting

's a club in the NW part of the state, for what it's worth.

[Kate ......]

Thank you. This is very interesting. kate

belly wrote:

[simy1]

why not just buy morel spawn from fungi.com? I had some in 1997, none since, and this spring was absolutely perfect for morels, but I could not find any..

[steve]

I also have alot of cedar trees and mixed spruce and white pine, last fall I had alot of wild mushrooms coming up, some very strange ones I couldnt identify. Puff balls are my favourite, they grow well here also. Last year I picked one that was the size of a basketball, good eating too, tastes similar to white mushrooms you get at the supermarket.

Right now the mosquitoes, black flies and soon, the deerflys will chew you up and spit you out, they are very bad here as I expect most places in the wilds, better to stay home and buy some mushrooms from the grocery, LOL.

[Kate ......]

Don't think I'll be doing that one. Let me hear if you do. Would be interesting to hear someone got as many morels as they wanted. kate

simy1 wrote:

[Kate ......]

I have hear others say they liked the puff balls. How do you prepare them? Kate

steve wrote: